Just a short while ago, I showed you how the most powerful telescopes were able to gather incredible amounts of light from a tiny part of the sky, and peer deeper into the darkest regions of the Universe than ever before. But there's another way to do astronomy that's just as majestic: view the entire sky at once.
For an astronomer, this is easy; all you have to do is get a fisheye lens, and you can see an entire hemisphere with no problem. (The "up" hemisphere is much more interesting than the "down" one.) If you use it at night and take a time-lapse exposure, you can truly create some amazing images of the entire night sky, like this one by Alan Dyer.
But last month, a group of amateur astronomers got together in Fort Davis, Texas, and created this time-lapse video at a star party of the Milky Way galaxy rising as the night progressed. It is stunning how beautiful something as simple as the Earth spinning can be. Watch the entire 11 hour night compressed into 48 seconds; you will not be sorry!
Wow! Seriously... just... awe. Check out the original upload in HD by William Castleman if you like, and have a great weekend!
Physical Science
Comments
Wonderful post.
Request - please provide posts which explain how astronomical distances are actually measured and how the age of significant astronomical phenomena are measured.
Thanks!
Posted by: Health Physicist | May 29, 2009 4:34 PM
That is an awesome video! Thanks. :)
Posted by: Gingerbaker | May 30, 2009 7:58 AM
Dr Siegel:
Thanks for the link to William Castleman's AMAZING, spectacular time-lapse video. Gorgeous. Awe-inspiring. Thanks for sharing it.
However, I have a bone to pick with you. You wrote, regarding the ease and usefulness of recording, hemisphere by hemisphere, the neighboring portion of the universe, that 'the "up" hemisphere is much more interesting than the "down" one.' Humph, I say. Geology, the study of the "down" hemisphere, is at LEAST as interesting as astronomy, although the time-lapse movies would have to be much, much longer.
Posted by: Matthew von der Ahe | May 30, 2009 10:32 PM
It's great that you were able to say "this is easy" in a post. That's almost as good as "That's easy!"
I disagree that the most interesting hemisphere is necessarily the up one. For astronomy, yes, but for geophysics, no.
Posted by: Brian | June 1, 2009 6:15 PM
Wonderful photos and links.
How do you take a long exposure shot with a fisheye? Do you put the camera on a motor mount? Doesn't the ground eat a lot of the exposure?
Posted by: KoKo | June 6, 2009 1:47 PM
See it here: http://vimeo.com/4505537
Posted by: m | August 13, 2009 5:48 AM
Beautiful thank you for posting.
Posted by: Johnny | August 15, 2009 2:59 PM